Home Birth

[angi]

Ok well, I am one of those nowhere near nor contemplating the act of childbirth. However, I've always kind of thought I would do the voluntary c-section thang. After reading about home birth, I think this would be awesome. I sure as hell would not have a normal, vaginal birth in a hospital. Too many damn horror stories and the doctors give you no autonomy.

I have no idea what is prompting me to post this other than the health section doesn't have many threads.

[kimtae]

I was a home birth.

[vsoy]

I've started to think about a birth plan where you lay out what you want and don't during delivery, but I haven't done too much research into it yet. But after seeing one sister coming home from the hospital after a c-section, it scared the bejesus out of me. The look of excruciating pain on her face as she walked up to the house coming home from the hospital really stuck in my mind. It seems to me another injury to recover from "down there" and I was under the impression c-sections were popular for a while because it gave doctors complete or more control over the birthing process. I'm not sure how it gives you more autonomy. Vaginal or c-section, it isn't going to be fun. I'm convinced that something happens during or after the birth where a mother's memory is completely wiped clean of the whole experience and replaced with happy thoughts. Otherwise, the human race would have gone extinct:D

As a first timer, I would be too freaked out, but I guess if you had great rapport with your midwife, it would be nice to be in the comfort of your own home. If there were any problems, I'm sure the midwife would be on the phone stat calling up the ambulance. I've had a very hard time find good doctors that I liked in my area so I can't imagine where to begin looking for a midwife.

I've heard you get quite the rush giving birth without an epidural, but I'm a little scared that it's going to be hell and there's a limited window of time to do it if I change my mind. For sure, I don't want an episiotomy, ugh.

[angi]

What got me started on this was this site:

http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/

It is for unassisted home birth. At first I thought these people were nuts, then I started reading, seeing the photos, video, etc and realized: why do we need all this invasive bullshit? This is what our bodies are made for and we have become so disengaged and so brainwashed with the fear of pain that an experience that should be joyous and wonderful is fearful, painful, and dreaded.

I read one article someplace written by a father who basically said: would you let an army of people in your bedroom? Would you let another man touch your wife in that way? So why do we allow doctors to do it in the name of health? His basic premise was that birth, like the sex act itself, is a sexual act. It is the culmination of the sex act. It is intimate and should be shared by the two who made the child.

In a way, I agree with him. Birth is a very intimate and sexual act. I would want (future) partner to be there right with me and helping me through the process--not some doctor with his/her hand up my hoohaw every five minutes. Talk about disruptive! Plus, I think men are missing a vital role within the family unit these days. They are no longer the breadwinner, the head of household, the disciplinarian. They have kind of been relegated to the position of "some guy." What could be a more beautiful affirmation of his manhood, his role as a father, and his role as a provider than to catch his own child as it is born?

I dunno. It's a lot to think about. I dunno if I could do the full on unassisted thing because I'd be afraid of complications, but a home birth with a midwife and/our doula seems quite harmonious.

[minbo]

For all the bad rap of birthing in a hospital, in undeveloped countries, death of the mother during childbirth is a significant risk that lowers the average lifespan of the population.

"Natural" birth at home is feasible and safe if monitored by a trained midwife, but if there are any complications, then I'm all for an emergency ambulance ride to the hospital for a c-section....

In the end, whatever the birth mother is most comfortable with after reasoned and calm reflection is whatever I'd go with if it was my baby being born.

A little factoid. Jimmy Carter was the first US president to be born in a hospital.

[JadeDragon]

I think this is the part that scares me most about becoming a mother, after how I would bring up my own child and whether I'd be doing things "right".

Unassisted childbirth seems like an interesting idea, but it doesn't strike me as a suitable course of action for a first-time mother. I'd probably panic and do something horribly wrong, because I wouldn't know what to do in the first place. And mothers with health conditions may not be suited to the whole thing either.

(If I have kids, I'll need to get c-sections as I have a prior medical condition, and Vsoy's story about her sister scares the bejeezus out of me too.)

The site is a bit weird. While it's true that fatherhood no longer holds the cachet it used to in the early 20th century and before, ideas of manhood has evolved beyond the father/provider archetype, so the issue's a bit more complicated than that. Susan Faludi writes much better about this in Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Male.

So, um, yeah, topic? Still going to the hospital if I get pregnant. *cowers*

[vsoy]

Though it's kind of new age-y weird in a way, it is an interesting website with a lot of food for thought to the whole process. Thank goodness I looked at it at home rather at work with all those nekkid preggo women all over the place. I think the overall vibe of the site that birth doesn't have to be scary is an empowering one but I find it hard to believe that it's *snap* that easy (especially breech birthing). But I came away with the overall feeling that I can be calm and not afraid through the whole process.

I remember taking a human sexuality class in college (one of the best classes I took simply because it is one of the most useful and informative for life in general) and the prof was talking about how when we became parents, we should shop around and make our wishes known for childbirth. The mother is the customer and she should get what she wants from the doctor or go somewhere else. There's always going to be some people who just want the baby out and will do whatever the doctor wants, but others will want or not want certain things and she should have the amount of control she wants during the process.

I find it interesting that birthing was a distinctly a female dominated event for centuries but in the last 100 especially, it has become a male dominated or medically involved event.

*cowers with JadeDragon* Still lots to think about, but I'd feel better in a hospital but with a whole list of things they can and can't do. Shoot, can't eat anything but icechips before birth? What up with that?

Is that weird that Nebraska is the only state that makes it a misdemeanor for the father to catch the baby? I don't get the illegal aspect at all. It just happens when it happens. And how would they prosecute something like that without proof?

[angi]

For all the bad rap of birthing in a hospital, in undeveloped countries, death of the mother during childbirth is a significant risk that lowers the average lifespan of the population.

"Natural" birth at home is feasible and safe if monitored by a trained midwife, but if there are any complications, then I'm all for an emergency ambulance ride to the hospital for a c-section....

In the end, whatever the birth mother is most comfortable with after reasoned and calm reflection is whatever I'd go with if it was my baby being born.

A little factoid. Jimmy Carter was the first US president to be born in a hospital.

Actually, scandanavian countries have high rates of home birth (even without midwives) and some of the lowest birth rates. The more I read, the less I am convinced that hospital births are safer or even necessary for low risk pregnancies.

[aelward]

C-sections are happening way too much in this country. It is somewhere in the realm of 33%. There are some cases where they are necessary, sure, but I doubt it is one-third of all births.

Despite how OBs hawk C-sections as being completely safe, maybe even safer than the "old-fashioned way," little do they talk about recovery times and possible complications for future pregnancies.

I highly recommend the book "A thinking woman's guide to a better birth," by Henci Goer. Also check out the International Cesaerean Awareness Network website to learn more.

[minbo]

Just an article that I thought was interesting and slightly related...

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007150.html

A Midwife for Every Afghan Mother



<snip>
The maternal death rate in Afghanistan is the second-highest in the world; only Sierra Leone's is higher. For every 100,000 women who go into labor in Afghanistan, about 1,900 die. According to UNICEF, one in nine women in Afghanistan will die during or shortly after pregnancy at some point in her lifetime. (By comparison, the maternal mortality rate in the US and Japan is eight per 100,000 births.)
</snip>

<snip>
One glimmer of hope can be found in recent efforts to train hundreds of Afghan midwives. The presence of a midwife has been proven to reduce maternal mortality rates substantially -- one reason the World Health Organization has prioritized international midwife training in its goal of reducing maternal deaths by 75 percent worldwide in the next eight years as part of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. Afghanistan has a long way to go; by some estimates, only 14 percent of Afghan births are attended by a skilled professional
</snip>

[angi]

Sweden has one of the lowest infant mortality rates and also a significant larger percentage of homebirths, which shows midwives are completely capable of delivering babies. So kudos to them training midwives.

The more I've read, the more I am convinced that a hospital birth is totally unnecessary unless it is a complicated/high-risk pregnancy.

[aelward]

In the absence of some pre-existing condition which obviously threatens the life or health of the baby or mother (pre-eclampsia, frank breech, etc), then a midwife will probably outperform an OB-- whether it is in a hospital or in a home setting.

The Midwife understanding of pregnancy is that it is a natural process that may require a little nudging along. An OB views pregnancy as a list of potential problems waiting to happen, that require heroic action to solve.

A doula is also a great help-- women who deliver with the help of a doula are significantly less likely to use epidurals or get c-sections.